Sample: Customer Success Story for IFC Credit's newsletter, "LeaseLine."


IFC Credit Furnishes a Client for Growth

By Stephen McCabe

Thanks to some innovative partnering between a major office-furniture manufacturer and IFC Credit, a leading high-tech company has room to continue to grow.

As a digital marketplace leader in providing e-commerce, knowledge management, and enterprise resource planning using Oracle Systems solutions, ThinkSpark is a company that has experienced tremendous growth since its inception in 1987. But the growth-related challenges facing the company were not limited to meeting the spiraling demand for its suite of Oracle network assistance and training services or its reselling of Oracle products: The greatest challenge it faced was finding a place for its people to sit. The company needed to furnish two additional floors of office space it had rented for its growing Dallas, Texas, headquarters.

The responsibility for furnishing the newly acquired space fell squarely on the shoulders of Roger Williams, ThinkSpark's director of infrastructure. Williams began his search by conducting a meticulous survey of all the modular system furniture dealers in the Dallas area.

"We really did our homework. It took us a couple of months to really sit down and do that homework-just to review the different products that are out there." In the end, Williams settled on one: KI, of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

"From what I saw in comparing the products that each vendor had, in the end we were really attracted to KI's SystemsWall® product and also the modular side of their WireWorks™ Panel System. It seemed to meet our needs best."

While Williams was impressed with KI's products, what he didn't know was that KI had just entered into a unique partnering relationship with IFC Credit-a relationship that would turn out to provide significant advantages to all involved as the $600,000 deal progressed.

Founded in 1941 as Krueger International, KI manufactures a diverse line of office, commercial, institutional, and educational furniture. KI markets its products through sales representatives and furniture dealers, architects, interior designers, and end-users throughout the world. KI's Dallas sales representative, Brad Lowe, had been working closely with ThinkSpark in helping identify their furniture needs.

But identifying their needs and selecting a furniture vendor and a product was just the start for ThinkSpark. According to ThinkSpark Chief Financial Officer Kathy Hiser, innovative financing for the furniture was also a major goal of her company.

"We wanted an off-balance-sheet transaction," Hiser explained. With credit lines tightening throughout the economy and in the high-tech sector in particular, ThinkSpark was actively seeking a way to preserve its existing working credit lines.

That's when Lowe turned to KI's Business Partner Alliance Program with IFC Credit. Lowe knew that ThinkSpark could acquire the approximately $600,000 in furniture and related products and could do so on a monthly basis for a fraction of the cost that would be required by either paying cash or arranging a bank loan that required a down payment. IFC Credit's Business Partner Alliance Program proved to be the perfect affordable lease option for ThinkSpark to use with KI.

Hiser agrees: "IFC Credit was able to provide the off-balance-sheet funding we were seeking," says Hiser.

Working closely with IFC Credit, Lowe showed ThinkSpark how it could acquire all of its desired furniture, complete its expansion, and do both through a small monthly lease payment. Shortly after receiving a financial package from ThinkSpark, IFC Credit approved the transaction, drew up documents, and obtained the necessary signatures. Once received, KI arranged for delivery and installation, and IFC Credit closed the transaction. The entire process took less than four weeks.

Hiser has completed many lease deals for ThinkSpark, but she was especially pleased with IFC Credit's Business Partner Alliance Program and the win-win scenario it created between her company and KI.

"[IFC Credit was] very responsive once we got to the acceptance phase and worked out the conditional details. We were able to get the lease processed very smoothly." She says she would not hesitate to enter into another lease with the company again.

Through IFC Credit's Business Partner Alliance Program, KI made an order that would have taken much longer to finalize and received payment immediately after delivery. ThinkSpark kept their existing credit lines intact for other purposes. And IFC Credit was able to show just how effective their program is for bother sellers and users of equipment.

And, most importantly, the folks at ThinkSpark headquarters now have a place to sit.